• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Mass Tort News

Mass Tort News

News Articles for Mass Tort Attorneys

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • News
  • LegalCast
  • Live Trials
  • Contact Us
Home / Opioid Crisis / Rudy Giuliani Was DC Back-Office Fixer That Let Purdue Pharma (OxyContin) Slip Out Of A 2006 Criminal Indictment

Rudy Giuliani Was DC Back-Office Fixer That Let Purdue Pharma (OxyContin) Slip Out Of A 2006 Criminal Indictment

Categories: Opioid Crisis Tags: opioid crisis, oxycontin, purdue pharmaJanuary 31, 2020 by Mass Tort News Leave a Comment

Richard Sackler Unsealed Deposition Transcript in Kentucky vs. Purdue: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5745212-Deposition.html (2015)

See the Purdue Frederick Co. (not Purdue Pharma) Criminal Guilty Plea Outline May 9, 2007 (USDC Virginia)

How was Purdue Pharma able to slip through the 2006 criminal indictment noose and continue to market, sell and prescribe Oxycontin for another 10 years? Giuliani and GW Bush DoJ lawyers agreed to have Purdue Pharma parent “Purdue Fredrick Company” take the guilty plea, thereby permitting Purdue Pharma to continue selling Oxycontin and furthering the current opioid crisis.

By Mass Tort News

The US government secured a criminal conviction against Purdue Pharma in the mid-2000s but failed to curb sales of the drug after Rudy Giuliani reached a deal to avoid a ban on Purdue doing business including the federal government. The George W. Bush administration opted to settle the case instead, with the executives and the company paying $634.5 million in fines in 2007. How Rudy Guiliani slipped a fast legal maneuver past everyone is explained below.

That year, Purdue also reached a $19.5 million settlement with 26 states, including Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. But Healey’s office alleges Purdue continued deceptively marketing opioids after 2007. These settlement by various states are being used as ammunition in the current wave of opiate lawsuits versus Purdue Pharma.

2018 CONGRESS INQUIRIES INTO 2007 PLEA IGNORED

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Cummings Request Subpoena for Internal DOJ Report Indicating Purdue Pharma Concealed Knowledge of OxyContin Abuses.

In an attempt to uncover intel of Purdue’s bad conduct, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier  and Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee Elijah E. Cummings sent a letter requesting that Chairman Trey Gowdy issue a subpoena to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce documents it is withholding related to an internal 2006 report that Purdue Pharma knew of significant abuses of its drug OxyContin shortly after it was brought to market in 1996.

“If this report is accurate, Purdue’s actions demonstrate a stunning disregard for human life and the law.  While Purdue Pharma made billions of dollars from OxyContin, thousands of Americans succumbed to addiction and its consequences,” the Members wrote.

The 120-page report, obtained by the New York Times, reportedly indicates that Purdue Pharma knew OxyContin was highly addictive, but the company concealed this information and vehemently denied that it had knowledge of the growing illicit use until years after it had been on the market.  Despite this deception, Purdue’s top executives managed to effectively avoid any responsibility.

According to the New York Times, the 2006 DOJ report recommended the indictment of “three of Purdue’s top executives on felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud. However, the political appointees at the Department of Justice under then-President George W. Bush reportedly overturned the prosecutors’ recommendations.

On June 12, 2018, DeSaulnier and Cummings sent a letter to DOJ requesting that it produce this report by June 25, 2018. DOJ did not respond to this request.

A full copy of the letter to Chairman Gowdy can be found here.

PURDUE PHARMA KNEW OF OXYCONTIN ABUSES

According to the New York Times’ report on the DOJ document, Purdue’s general counsel wrote in early 1999, “We have in fact picked up references to abuse of our opioid products on the internet.”

That same year, an OxyContin sales representative wrote in an email, “I feel like we have a credibility problem with our product,” after a doctor in Florida was arrested for illegally prescribing the drug. Sales representatives were discouraged by Purdue from raising concerns about abuse, with one saying his manager told him that “his job was to sell drugs, not to determine if a ‘doctor was a drug pusher.’”

PURDUE OPIATE PRESCRIPTION LAWSUITS IN 2018  

Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma is facing a wave of civil lawsuits as more than 25 states including New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and other states have joined a growing number actions against Purdue Pharma, with Massachusetts filing a lawsuit naming not only Purdue Pharma, but Purdue executives and the Sackler family members who’ve profited from Oxycontin sales. Here is the June 12, 2018 Massachusetts complaint naming the Sackler family as defendants, State of Massachusetts Complaint vs. Purdue Pharma and the Individual Sackler Family Members.

More than 200 opiate based lawsuits are now filed against Purdue Pharma and other opiate drug makers, distributors and pharmacies. However, the primary target in every lawsuit filed is always Purdue Pharma.  These states, counties and local governments have independently sued opioid drug makers in both state and federal courts across the country, with claims alleging the opiate drug makers, distributors and now the pharmacies engaged in fraudulent marketing to sell the powerful painkillers.

They also failed to monitor and report the massive increases in opioid prescriptions flooding the US marketplace. Which has now resulted in fueling the nationwide epidemic, that’s reported to have killed over a quarter million people. The now organized approach steps up those efforts as officials sift evidence and are now holding not only the companies, but the executives and owners culpable in the designing the opioid crisis.

Purdue Pharma is facing a legal assault on many fronts, as cities, counties and states have either filed suit or are probing the company for an alleged role in the United States’ opioid and addiction epidemic.

The US government missed the opportunity to curb sales of the drug that kickstarted the opioid epidemic when it secured the only criminal conviction against the maker of OxyContin a decade ago.

Purdue Pharma hired Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor and now Donald Trump’s lawyer, to head off a federal investigation in the mid-2000s into the company’s marketing of the powerful prescription painkiller at the center  of an epidemic estimated to have claimed at least 300,000 lives.

While Giuliani was not able to prevent the criminal conviction over Purdue’s fraudulent claims for OxyContin’s safety and effectiveness, he was able to reach a deal to avoid a bar on Purdue doing business with the federal government which would have killed a large part of the multibillion-dollar market for the drug.

The former New York mayor also secured an agreement that greatly restricted further prosecution of the pharmaceutical company and kept its senior executives out of prison.

The US attorney who led the investigation, John Brownlee, has defended the compromise but also expressed surprise that Purdue did not face stronger action from federal regulators and further criminal investigation given its central role in the rise of the epidemic.

Connecticut-based Purdue is now facing a wave of civil lawsuits as New York, Texas and five other states have joined a growing number actions against the company. But Brownlee was the first, and so far only, prosecutor to secure a criminal conviction against the drug maker.

Brownlee launched his investigation shortly after being appointed US attorney for the western district of Virginia as the region struggled with escalating overdoses and deaths from opioids in the early 2000s. When he looked at the source of the epidemic he found OxyContin, a drug several times more powerful than any other prescription painkiller on the market at the time.

HOW OXYCONTIN FUELED THE OPIOID CRISIS

Almost 100 people are dying every day across America from opioid overdoses – more than car crashes and shootings combined. The majority of these fatalities reveal widespread addiction to powerful prescription painkillers. The crisis unfolded in the mid-90s when the US pharmaceutical industry began marketing legal narcotics, particularly OxyContin, to treat everyday pain. This slow-release opioid was vigorously promoted to doctors and, amid lax regulation and slick sales tactics, people were assured it was safe. But the drug was akin to luxury morphine, doled out like super aspirin, and highly addictive. What resulted was a commercial triumph and a public health tragedy. Belated efforts to rein in distribution fueled a resurgence of heroin and the emergence of a deadly, black market version of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The crisis is so deep because it affects all races, regions and incomes.

Purdue turned OxyContin into a multibillion-dollar drug after its launch in 1996 with an unprecedented campaign marketing the painkiller to doctors. OxyContin contained a much higher dose of narcotic than other painkillers because it was designed to bleed slowly into a patient’s system over 12 hours and save having to take lower dosage pills more regularly. Purdue told doctors that not only was this more effective at subduing pain but it was less likely to cause addiction and more resistant to abuse by people hooked on drugs.

These were important selling points to a medical profession still wary of opioids because of concerns about addiction, and demand for OxyContin quickly surged. But it almost as swiftly became apparent to prosecutors that neither claim was true as doctors reported increasing numbers of people becoming addicted to the high dosage, and that those already hooked on opioids found it easy to extract the narcotic by crushing the pills.

OxyContin became the go-to drug for people looking for an instant high by snorting or injecting.

“This was the magic pill, right? This was a long-acting pill that the addicts wouldn’t like and you couldn’t get dependent on, and that is the magic bullet. The reality is it just wasn’t true,” said Brownlee. “It was highly deceptive and then they trained their sales force to go out and to push that deception on physicians.”

Investigators waded through several million of Purdue’s internal memos, marketing documents and notes from sales representatives. Brownlee’s office discovered training videos in which reps acted out selling the drug using the false claims. “This was pushed by the company to be marketed in an illegal way, pushed from the highest levels of the company, that in my view made them a criminal enterprise that needed to be dealt with,” said Brownlee.

When Purdue discovered it was under investigation it dispatched Giuliani, fresh from his term as mayor of New York during the 9/11 attacks, in the twin roles of heavyweight lawyer to confront the young prosecutor while also working his powerful connections in Washington. Giuliani met repeatedly with Brownlee. At first the Purdue lawyer tried to persuade the prosecutor that he had got it all wrong.

“It was basically, you need to look at the company differently. All we do is make a product and we give it to doctors and doctors ultimately make the choice,” said Brownlee.

The prosecutor heard Giuliani out but regarded his attempts to load responsibility on to doctors as missing the point. “What were the doctors being told? That was the real rub. To me the biggest evidence were the videos of the training sessions. When I saw that, you now know that this is what the corporation wants the doctors to know, and it just wasn’t true,” said Brownlee.

The US attorney had six meetings with Giuliani. They moved from how to interpret the evidence and questions around discovery to negotiations over the final settlement.

HOW GUILIANI WORKED BACK OFFICE DC CONNECTIONS

But Giuliani and his team seemed to be also working their Washington contacts. The Purdue lawyers complained to the office of the then deputy attorney general, James Comey, whose tenure as head of the FBI lay ahead of him, that Brownlee was exceeding his legal authority in pursuit of documents from the company.

“The defense lawyers contacted Mr Comey unbeknownst to us and said those guys down there are crazy,” said Brownlee. The US attorney went to Washington to explain to Comey in person. Purdue was not instantly recognizable as a pharmaceutical company to most people in DC. The name was easily mistaken for Perdue Farms, a regional chicken producer well known for its television ads featuring the owner, Frank Perdue. “Mr Comey said, why are you prosecuting the chicken guy?” said Brownlee.

Once that misunderstanding was cleared up, Comey signed off on Brownlee’s actions and Purdue was forced to hand over the documents. Brownlee set the drug maker a deadline in October 2006 to agree to the plea deal or face a trial. Hours before it expired, the federal prosecutor received a call at home from a senior justice department official, Michael Elston, chief of staff to the new deputy attorney general, Paul McNulty.

Elston asked why the case was being pushed along so rapidly and pressed for a delay. The prosecutor again saw the influence of Purdue’s lawyers at work and cut the call short. It wasn’t unusual for corporate lawyers to try to get leverage with senior justice department officials but Elston’s call, just as Purdue had its back to the wall, seemed to the then prosecutor unusually interventionist because he had shown no interest in the case before. Elston’s lawyer has since claimed that his client called Brownlee on instructions from above.

Within hours of Brownlee hanging up on Elston, Purdue accepted a plea deal admitting to criminal charges of mis-selling OxyContin with “intent to defraud or mislead”. In 2007, after a court hearing confirming the conviction, Brownlee hailed it as a “crushing defeat” for the drug maker.

But Giuliani won an important concession for Purdue. Corporations with criminal convictions are mostly barred from doing business with the federal government. If Purdue Pharma’s name was on the conviction it would probably have forced OxyContin from public health programs such as Medicaid and Medicare and the Veterans Administration health system. That in turn was likely to diminish its prescribing in the private health system.

Brownlee said he did not want to be responsible for taking OxyContin off the market and so agreed with Giuliani to target the prosecution at the parent company, Purdue Frederick. That left Purdue Pharma, cleaved out as a separate painkiller manufacturer in 1991, to continue selling the painkiller without restriction even though opioid deaths were escalating.

“I didn’t feel as a lawyer I could be in a position to bar anyone from getting OxyContin. Faced with that decision, I was just simply not prepared to take it off the market. I didn’t feel like that was my role. My role was to address prior criminal conduct. Hold them accountable. Fine them. Make sure the public knew what they did. ” said Brownlee.

Brownlee said he expected federal regulators, particularly the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies to use the criminal conviction to look more closely at Purdue and its drug. But there was no follow-up and OxyContin went on being widely prescribed.

Purdue was fined $640m, a fraction of its total profits from OxyContin. Three Purdue executives pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and were fined a total of $34.5m between them, a reflection of their earnings from the drug.

Giuliani also won a second concession that immunized Purdue from further prosecution even though its criminal conduct continued after the period covered by the plea agreement. The prosecution covered its crimes committed up until 2001, but the mis-selling went on for years afterwards. Giuliani negotiated an agreement which immunized the company from further prosecution for its actions up to 2007 when the guilty plea was finalized in court.

Critics of the deal, such as the watchdog Public Citizen, said the company sold nearly $5bn worth of OxyContin between the two dates.

A decade later, with tens of thousands more lives claimed by the epidemic kickstarted by OxyContin, Brownlee said he does not regret his handling of the case but said he had expected other prosecutors and federal regulators to pick up the baton to rein in the spread of OxyContin.

“I think convicting the company, the fines and all of that had its impact. I guess as I sit here now, I’m a little surprised that it’s the only one of its kind. That with the nature of the abuse and the nature of the problem, that as we sit here that there’s no other out there,” he said.

PURDUE PHARMA FIRES ENTIRE SALES FORCE

As of June 20, 2018 in what is either an amazing coincidence or a look at corporate political maneuvering, just more than a week after the Sacklers and company executives were named individually in the latest Purdue Pharma opiate lawsuit, the OxyContin maker laid off its entire sales force.  This puts an end to an era for Purdue that at one point, was the top-selling opioid drug in the country, and became synonymous with the nation’s opioid crisis, while the Sacklers collected billions in profits from Oxycontin sales.

Purdue, had already laid off half of its 600 sales reps in February 2018, as part of the corporate political maneuvering to curry favor with the numerous state and federal investigation that were taking place, when it announced that it would no longer be promoting OxyContin to doctors. On July 19, 2018 six days after the State of Massachusetts filed a complaint naming the company, the founding Sackler family and the executive suite as defendants in a an opioid litigation complaint,  Purdue Pharma confirmed that they had terminated the remaining 220 employees in its sales force.

While Purdue still manufactures Oxycontin, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the company’s, they will be shifting its focus away from the highly lucrative opiate painkiller market, according to company sources.

WHY DIDN’T THE DEA, DRUG DISTRIBUTORS AND PHARMACIES TAKE NOTICE BEFORE THE OXYCONTIN AND OPIOID CRISIS SPREAD ACROSS THE COUNTRY LIKE WILDFIRE? WAS IT BECAUSE OF THE BILLIONS IN PROFITS, QUARTERLY BONUSES AND DIVIDENDS?

STOCK OPTIONS CASHED IN BY BOARDROOMS AT EVERY OPIOID BIG PHARMA COMPANY?  STAY TUNED FOR HOW “PROFITS BEFORE PATIENTS” BECAME THE NORM

 A special thanks to Stat News and Pro Publica for the 2 year fight to unseal the Purdue Pharma court documents in Kentucky State Courts which Purdue Pharma fought to prevents.

(article excerpts and quotes have been taken from publicly available media sources and court records)

Mass Tort News
Mass Tort News
masstortnews.org/
Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on LinkedIn Share
Send email Mail

Categories: Opioid Crisis Tags: opioid crisis, oxycontin, purdue pharma

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Search

E-mail Newsletter

Sign up to receive weekly updates on the latest in Mass Tort News.

Recent Episodes

John K. Rabiej served as the Deputy Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute for one year, and as the Director of the Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies for seven years. The Duke Law Center brings together judges, lawyers, researchers, government officials and other parties to advance the study and understanding of the judicial process and generate ideas for how it might be improved. During his time as the Director of the Duke Law Center, Mr. Rabiej studied the impact of technology on the judiciary, including analyzing his concerns that the courts are not keeping pace with the rapid advancement of technology in the culture at large. Prior to joining the Duke Law Center, Mr. Rabiej served as the Executive Director and Director of Judicial Outreach for The Sedona Conference; the Chief of the Rules Committee Support Office; and the American Law Institute. He presently sits on the Chief Justice’s Rules Advisory Commission, North Carolina (term ending December 31, 2023). In this episode of LegalCast, Mr. Rabiej discusses a legal bipartisan review of mass torts, class action, and the ever-expanding e-discovery quagmire that seems to be firmly embedded in complex litigation coming to a peak in 2022.  Will the plaintiffs and defense leadership be able to collaborate to reign in the ever-expanding high cost of litigation? Mr. Rabiej has made a career of working to bring opposing groups together to discuss common interests as a means to increase efficiencies in litigations. And, with millions of dollars at stake, why not at least start the discussions.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Is Judicial Review On The Horizon?
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LmlkM1ZiUVJMYkdZ
Stephen P New. of Beckley West Virginia is one of the country’s leading opioid litigators, by bringing the fight directly to Opioid Big Pharma's doorstep. Steve and the Opioid Justice Team have been defending and advocating for the rights of the neonatal abstinence syndrome afflicted infants, aka the "NAS Babies." Who are the truly innocent victims of the now decades-old opiate crisis in America.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Leading the Fight for Opioid Addicted Infants
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LnhNbHdDSGU3ZzZZ
George Haj is a Pulitzer-Prize winning editor who founded Haj Media in 2017. Haj Media is a strategic communications firm focusing on crisis communications, media relations, and litigation support for law firms and corporate clients. Prior to launching his own consulting firm, George spent three decades working in some of the nation’s largest news organizations. He has deep roots in the media industry and connections with reporters and editors in a range of publications across the country. George worked as executive business editor at the Miami Herald and then was a top editor at the Houston Chronicle. He also served as editorial director of ALM Media, where he directed a global newsroom of more than 100 journalists and oversaw iconic brands including The American Lawyer and National Law Journal. He can be reached at george@hajmedia.com. Find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/georgehaj, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-haj-25ba481, and at http://www.hajmedia.com/. 

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Crisis Management & Media Training for Lawyers
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LmhvVDk2Q2MxUnpR
With four decades of experience in legal advertising with a passion for legal marketing, intake, and conversion, Harlan Schillinger has more than earned his title as the Grandfather of Legal Advertising. 

Harlan was the first in the industry to produce and market TV advertising for the legal community. In 1975, along with his partners, Harlan founded the first syndication TV production firm for high-end retailers and Lawyers, creating television commercials that aired throughout North America.

Since the late 1970s, Harlan has worked aggressively, productively, and professionally within the legal advertising space. He has said that: “Creating opportunities and increasing market share for advertising law firms is [his] #1 priority. The value of the case is everything in such a crowded market.” Harlan privately consults with lawyers who not only share his values, but who also share his vision of increasing business, being accountable, and obtaining high-value cases. His approach to intake and conversion rests on complete accountability within that area and he is known to practice what he preaches. Harlan has trademarked within the legal advertising world the two phrases that have become his backbone of philosophy: What You Don't Know, You Don't Know® and Ambassador of First Impressions™.

Since that time, Harlan has worked with more than 130 law firms in almost 100 markets throughout North America. Before joining Network Affiliates in 1985, Harlan was a founding partner and VP of Madison, Muyskens & Jones, a Connecticut-based advertising agency. In April 2016 Harlan retired from Colorado-based Network Affiliates, the nation's first and largest full-service legal advertising agency, where he was the leader of their attorney marketing efforts for over 34 years.

A few years ago, Harlan and two of his partners – Dino Colombo Esq. and Eric Coffman – developed Lead Docket, software for intake and conversion within law firms. Harlan says that Lead Docket helps law firms increase control and management of intake and conversion, allowing the firms to thrive.

Harlan is involved with a number of professional organizations, being a member of the National Trial Lawyers Executive Summit Committee as well as a Senior Editor and Writer for the National Trial Lawyers Magazine. He also has a passion for riding and building custom motorcycles, and is a proud member of the most prestigious motorcycle group in the world: Hamsters USA ® Motorcycle Group.

Learn more about Harlan at http://www.harlanschillinger.com/. 
And to check out the book he recommends – How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie and originally published in 1936 click here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034. 

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Prep Like a Pro: Legal Networking Tips & Tricks
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LjJJRW9MWUh1UkZ3
Christos Lagos has been the co-managing partner of Lagos & Priovolos PLLC since 2014 when he and John Priovolos formed the firm. Christos, who has over 23 years of legal experience, heads the firm's civil litigation division. His primary focus is on claims that involve substantial losses arising out of construction negligence, unsafe premises, automobile and trucking accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, negligence, defective products, insurance claims, and other civil disputes. 
 
Christos is a seasoned and accomplished trial lawyer with an exceptional track record of success handling high-profile litigation. His experience as lead counsel in numerous jury trials has proven invaluable in the guidance and expertise he offers his clients. He has obtained several multi-million dollar settlements, judgments, and jury verdicts and is a standing member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In total, Christos has helped recover over $150 Million for those whose lives have been harmed by the wrongdoing of others. 
 
Over the last 20 years, Christos has successfully litigated against insurance companies, construction and engineering firms, major consumer product and automobile manufacturers, property owners, health care providers, trucking and transportation companies, and other entities and corporations. Christos holds a Certificate in Mass-Tort Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) from the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School. Throughout his career, Christos has handled several notable landmark cases. Notably, Christos filed the first wrongful death lawsuit for the tragic bridge collapse that occurred at Florida International University. Twenty personal injury and wrongful death cases were consolidated against twenty-eight defendants involving over 100 lawyers.  Christos served as Liaison Counsel and was a lead attorney in this consolidated action. On behalf of all plaintiffs' counsel, Christos conducted numerous presentations and led global settlement negotiations resulting in the creation of a trust for the benefit of the bridge collapse victims in the amount of $102.75 Million from twenty-five defendants. 
 
Judge Jennifer D. Bailey, Administrative Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, who presided over the FIU bridge collapse litigation, had this to say about him: 
 
"Everyone should be extraordinarily grateful for Mr. Lagos's service as the lead court liaison. A significant portion of why this case has moved as efficiently as it has is because he stepped up to do this."

 - Honorable Judge Jennifer D. Bailey
Administrative Judge, Circuit Civil Division
Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in and for Miami-Dade County

To view news clips and statements from Judge Bailey and other counsel involved in the FIU bridge collapse litigation, click here: https://vimeo.com/694264408/f5251ce891 . 
 
Read more about Christos here: http://www.lpesq.com/ . And connect with him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoslagos/ . 

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Mass Tort Tragedy: the FIU Bridge Collapse with Christos Lagos
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LkFJWVoycXk2SE5V
Vicki J. Maniatis is a partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman who has worked on mass tort cases involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices for seventeen years. She is a frequent invited lecturer and moderator on a wide variety of pharmaceutical and mass tort cases including, Opioids, Trans Vaginal Mesh, Fosamax, Ortho Evra, Risperdal, Propecia, Avandia, Onglyza, as well as several medical devices. Vicki has been appointed by State and Federal Judges to serve as lead counsel and on Plaintiffs’ steering committees. She has significant experience performing all levels of bellwether trial case-specific work up including, plaintiff, spouse and family member depositions, implanting, explanting, treating physicians, sales representative, and expert depositions, for over 30 cases in several mass torts including TVM, Mirena and Propecia cases.

Vicki serves as a founding member of Mass Tort Med School, an annual medical seminar for Plaintiffs’ attorneys that offers numerous physician speakers and cutting-edge medical issues. In May 2022, along with the Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico, Mass Tort Med School is hosting Mass Torts Puerto Rico, a first-of-its-kind program where attorneys will have the opportunity to learn from and connect with world-class trial lawyers and experts – the Mass Tort Med School program will be bigger and better than ever.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
The Expert Whisperer with Vicki Maniatis
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3Lk9UQWlzZUhSVllz
Pedram Esfandiary is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, where he concentrates his practice on toxic tort injuries, pharmaceutical drug liability, class actions, consumer fraud litigation and police misconduct lawsuits.

He currently leads the firm’s legal team that is filing lawsuits against manufacturers of baby food for knowingly selling baby food with with “dangerously high levels” of toxic heavy metals. This new mass tort litigation involves allegations against the major brand manufacturers (Nurture Happy Family Organics, Beech-But, Hain, Plum Organics, Walmart-Parent’s Choice, Sprout Foods and Gerber) that their baby food contains dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, which are all considered toxic heavy metals and are known to damage neurological development and brain development in infants and are associated with autism and ADHD in children.

Pedram was an integral part of the trial team that won the historic $2 billion verdict against Monsanto (now Bayer) in May 2019 on behalf of a couple who together sprayed Roundup weed killer on their properties for 30 years. The jury awarded Alva and Alberta Pilliod $55 million in compensatory damages. Pedram was also served in a similar capacity on the very first Roundup cancer case to go to trial against Monsanto, resulting in a $289 million verdict on behalf of groundskeeper Dewayne “Lee” Johnson. And he participated in the second Roundup trial against Monsanto on behalf of Edwin Hardeman. The jury in that trial awarded Mr. Hardeman $80 million for his damages.

A winner on Law360’s Rising Stars Top 40 Under 40 list for 2019, Pedram has been recognized as an attorney whose legal accomplishments transcends his age. He has also been selected to Southern California Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars and the National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40.
Read Pedram’s full bio on the Baum Hedlund website here.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Food with Pedram Esfandiary
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LnRUQU5GZTh0OGpr
LegalCast spent a few minutes with 1st-year law student, Bailey Webster, at the 4th Annual Class Action Law Forum, at her school, Univ of San Diego. Bailey is very dynamic, engaging as well as being forward-thinking 8n how she sees herself as both a student, but also an up-and-coming legal professional. 

Watch and listen as one of America's emerging lawyers states clearly, how and why she chose law as a career and how she's shaping her own future.  

Bailey is definitely a young lawyer to keep an eye on in the future, "that's for all you recruiters at the tier one firms." 

Kudos to the USD School of Law class of 2024 for attracting students like Bailey.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org

http://www.westernalliancebancorporation.com/
Minute with Mark - Decisions, Decisions: Class action, commercial lit, intellectual property?
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LjJuYXlJYVdXZEZj
Hello America's law firms, meet Arif Salam, the type of up-and-coming lawyer in a 1st-year law student, who you want to get on your firm's radar. 

Arif has chosen class action law as his practice area of choice, already making inroads and connections by interacting with senior Class Action lawyers at the 4th annual class action law forum hosted by the University of San Diego school of law, where Arif is a first-year student.

Motivated and confident enough to interact with lead class action counsel from across the country and very capable of holding his own in a discussion that not many 1st years are given the opportunity to engage in. A legal mover in the making 'Arif Salam." 

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org

http://www.westernalliancebancorporation.com/
Minute with Mark - 1st year at Univ of SD School of Law? Is class action law for me?
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LjN2NVh3TS1Mci1v
Jason Velez is a partner at the Cochran Firm in its Salt Lake City and St. George offices in Utah. He is also the Founder and CEO of 1Law https://www.1law.com, a company that leverages artificial intelligence to make lawyers more efficient and lower costs for consumers. By doing so, 1Law helps drive new business to attorneys, which in turn improves the user experience for consumers.  
 
1Law utilizes artificial intelligence to augment, rather than replace lawyers’ ability to provide top-notch legal services to their clients. The 1Law platform allows lawyers and clients to communicate, share information, and access information on a real-time basis, from anywhere. Built on cutting-edge technology, 1Law helps improve access to justice by making quality legal representation available to all through the profitability of personal injury law. 
 
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn here.

Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media…

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mass-tort-news
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/masstortnewsorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masstortnews.org
THE VALUE OF LEGAL TECHNOLOGY with Jason Velez
YouTube Video VVVuSC1KSll3UzVNWHQwMEgyUndoR3Z3LlZIMjRHMEFIcUNj
Load More... Subscribe

Popular Tags

current litigationopioid crisisconsumer protectioncovid-19emerging tortszantacpurdue pharmaeventsackler familyjuul

Footer

Search

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • LegalCast
  • Live Trials
  • Contact Us

Categories

Events

Trial Lawyers Summit 2022

February 16, 2022 By Mass Tort News

2021 Trial Lawyers Summit Recap

May 11, 2021 By Mark York

2021 TRIAL LAWYERS SUMMIT

May 4, 2021 By Mass Tort News

More Posts from this Category

MASS TORT NEWS

Latest Mass Tort Litigation News

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 · Mass Tort News · All Rights Reserved.